Timeline According to a Summary of Pages 1115-1117

Some major current issues in the environment include:
Chemical waste
Rapid energy and food consumption
Massive global deforestation
Environmental degradation from big cities
Threats to wildlife
1962 Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring (many people mark this as the beginning of the modern environmentalist movement)--> this book said that each year, new chemicals are emitted into the environment, and they are responsible for contaminating the environment and possilby even altering genes. She was particularly wary of the pesticide DDT, which was being used to get rid of malaria. Since then, DDT has been banned, but malaria has also become much more common.
By the 1970s, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth were formed, and were trying to "preserve, restore, and enhance" the environment.
Conservation movement: protects biodiverstiy and emphasizes spiritual and aesthetic qualities of nature (ex. Carson, Sierra Club, Audubon Society)
Ecology movement: different groups with similar agendas (Greenpeace, Green Party) united to discuss issues including: global warming, toxic chemicals, nuclear energy and weapons, genetically modified food, recycling, saving the whales, sustainable agriculture, protecting ancient forests.
1980s: US starts a campaign for environmental justice:
Love Canal tragedy--in 1978, residents of this neighbohood in NY discovered that their houses and school had been constructed on a chemical dumping site that had been covered up by the Hooker CHemical Company in 1953. this land had then been sold to the city of NY for $1. the toxic chemicals eventually seeped through the earth and into the houses and school.
Union Carbide Factory (India): in 1984, poison gas leaked from this factory in the middle of the night, and, as the safety systems were not functioning, thousands of people died from breathing the gas. HOWEVER, even after this, chemicals that were left abandoned at the factory continued to poison the drinking water in this area. it was not until 2004 that it was cleaned up.
1986: Chernobyl-->this nuclear power plant exploded in the Ukraine, causing an unknown number of deaths and spraying nuclear fallout throughout several states in Europe.
Global Warming:
1990s were the warmest decade in history
fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) have greenhouse effect
Greenland could melt-->water goes into Atlantic, gulf stream that warms Europe and N.E. America shuts down, causing an ice age in the North Atlantic.
Rise in sea levels (cities and islands submerged)
Ecosystem changes (threatens species)
Extreme and abnormal weather
Destroyed ozone (no shield left from solar radiation)
DEcline in agriculture
1997: Kyoto Protocol added to UN. member countries try to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and 5 other greenhouse gases. they have an emission limit but these limits can be traded among the countries. 128 countries involved, not including US or Australia.

Summary of Pages 1086-1090

In some of the developing countries, it was discovered that there were limitations to the amount of industrializing they could do, and therefore they began to take a renewed interest in agriculture.
Why had agriculture been neglected in the first place??
Agricultural economy=colonial servitude
Low food prices squeezed agriculture and farmers
Too many obstacles to industrialized agriculture: farms too small and fragmented, peasants too stubborn to change their ways, landless laborers and peasants who had to work the land had no incentives to work harder, land reform was needed, and this was too radical of a measure (often brought violence and civil war).
Most countries had plenty of food before the mid-1960s and the US always sent cheap food to countries whose crops had failed.
HOWEVER, then, people started to worry that with population increase there wouldnt be enough food to go around. What did they do to counter this??
They made hybrid seeds to grow in tropical climates and to produce higher yields. For example, "miracle rice" produced 2-4 crops per year.
This transformarion of agriculture in poor countries became known as the GREEN REVOLUTION:
At first, it only benefitted only those that could afford irrigation and fertilizer investments, but it eventually started to help others, especially in China under Deng Xiaoping. In addition, though, it really only spread and took root in places where peasants owned a substantial amount of the overall land. For this reason, it failed in Latin America for the most part, because 3-4% of the population owned 60-80% of the land. Also, it did not really spread in drier regions like Africa, as there wasn't really any extensive irrigation. Africa is better suited for dry farming and farming of root crops, whereas the Green Revolution was more geared toward irrigation and farming of grain.
Currently, there are some fears about genetically modified crops:
It is unknown as to what effects they can have on the body
They could cause a loss of biodiversity (if all plants are the same, all are suceptible to the same pests and climate changes, so the entire crop would fail instead of only some if disaster struck.)
Corporate ownership of different seeds meant farmers would be dependent on a few multinational businesses. since seeds could only be used for one year, they would have to keep returning to these companies for a new stock
Gap between rich and poor would widen: as genetically modified foods became cheaper and more accessible to poor, rich would move on to buy "healthier" organic, chemically-free foods.

The Green Issue of Elle

How stars are getting involved:
Orlando Bloom--building a house in London that is solar powered and donating money toward planting trees to make up for the carbon emissions he causes when he travels.
Julia Roberts--has petitioned the government to not drill for oil in the unspoiled wilderness of New Mexico, and has spoken on Oprah about the harm that school buses can do to children that are repeatedly exposed to their toxic gas emissions: 70% of the cancer risk in California is a result of breathing the emissions from diesel engines. Also, these schoolbuses that kids ride daily have poor air circulation and little ventiliation, escalating this risk. In other words, that "school bus smell" is really just a combination of toxic gases. After she was featured on Oprah, Senator Dean Florez (CA) created a bill to ensure that every school bus has to run (at least for some part) on plant-based biodiesel. this diesel is clean and is four times as energy efficient as regular ethanol that is used in cars. In addition, instead of getting plastic bags at the grocery store, she takes tupperware containers.
Some new "Green" ideas and inventions
The CF bulb: it is a small flourescent light bulb that uses only 25% of the energy of a regular incandescent bulb but lasts for 10,000 hours.
Polymer Plastic: it is a plastic that is made from a corn-based polymer and therefore is made of a renewable source and is biodegradable.
InterfaceFLOR carpet tiles: carpet made from recycled material that contains no toxic glues or dyes. By 2050, this industry hopes to be neutral in terms of carbon.
Renewable Fabrics: Linda Loudermilk has produced fabrics and clothes that are composed of milk, corn polymer, seaweed, and bamboo.
Environmentalism is even currently being given a religious spin: religion and science can work simultaneously and in unison to save the world.
Some ideas about how you can help from Al Gores's website, www.climatecrisis.net:
If you put your thermostat down 2 in the winter and up 2 in the summer, you can save 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
You can save 1000 pounds a year by wrapping your water heater in an insulated blanket.
Don't use hot water to wash your clothes.
Air dry your clothes instead of using a dryer.
Unplug things when you're not using them...even if you have already turned them off..."the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!"
Only run your dishwasher when it's completely full.
Buy locally grown foods--this will save fuel consumption used to transport produce.
Eat less meat, especially beef: cows produce a TON of methane because they have more than one stomach.
Keep your tires fully inflated: they will be more gas efficient and get more miles per gallon.

hi mr. ashman

Tokyo, Japan Environmentalism

In a Time magazine I recently read there was an article on Tokyo stopping all cars and taxis for one day a week. And the people are forced to use the subways and buses. And they are trying to stop taxi drivers from taking one passenger at a time. They want to make a taxi wait for at least three people. But in doing so, taxi drivers lose money because the passengers each have to pay a third of the money, whereas the taxi drivers could have made more money by taking the passengers three separate times.

environmentalism timeline by caroline and kirby!

1864-Congress passes legislation making Yosemite Valley a state park (CA)
1872-Congress passes legislation making Yellowstone. It is the world's first official National Park.
1876-Appalachian Mountain Club founded
1886-Audubon Society created
1890-Congress passes legislation making Sequoia National Park (CA)
1891-Congress passes the Forest Reserve Act, which allows the President to make "forest reserves," and this eventually led to the creation of the National Forest System.
1899-The Rivers and Harbors Act is passed, saying that throwing trash or refuse into “navigable waters” is illegal, and that doing so could result in a $2500 fine and a one year prison term.
1900-The Lacey Act is passed and it stops the importation of birds in areas where birds are endangered. It was an act that attempted to stop killing birds for their feathers to be used in women’s hats.
1900s-First air pollution control device and first electric refrigerator made.
1900- The wild buffalo population is at less than 40. Most of the 30 million that were around 100 years prior were killed in an attempt to force Indians out of their land.
1902-Congress creates the Bureau of Reclamation to use money from public land sales to build dams and irrigation systems in the West.
1903-Theodore Roosevelt creates National Bird Preserve, which leads to the creation of the Wildlife Refuge System. His administration went on to create 53 other wildlife refuges and 42 million acres of national forests.
1903-Smoke emissions are limited in St. Louis.
1904-H.E. Willsie and John Boyle create a solar power plant in St. Louis and eventually made a system that did not have the traditional flaws associated with solar energy.
1905-National Audubon Society created
1908-A Swedish chemist concludes that coal and petroleum are creating a greenhouse effect that is causing global warming. However, he thought global warming was a good thing.
1910-The Lakeview Gusher started to emit crude oil in California's San Joaquin Valley. It spewed oil for a year and a half, totaling more than 9.4 million barrels of oil. Half of it was captured and used, while the rest polluted rivers, farm land, air, and other bodies of water.
1913-Congress passes legislation allowing a dam to be built in Hetch Hetchy Valley, in Yosemite.
1916-National Park Service founded.
1920s-Kerosene and fuel oil start to replace wood in some uses, commercial transportation and residential.
1924-National Coast Anti Pollution League is created as a result of oil and sewage pollution.
1934-Dust bowl storms begin (Midwest states)
1935-The Wilderness Society is founded as a result of the "emergency" that was all of the highways that were being built. The people in this group knew that it would make for problems in the future.
1937-Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act is passed, making a tax on arms and ammunition and using the money for wildlife management and inquiries.
1939-St. Louis Smog Episode occurs, when smog lasts for a week and lanterns are needed during the day for a whole week.
1941-St. Louis creates the first ordinance in the U.S. that strictly controls smoke emissions.
1948-In Dorona, Pennsylvania there was an "atmospheric inversion." The town was under a gas cloud that was emitted from the Donora Zinc Works. 20 people died, and the government started studying air pollution, leading to the Air Pollution Control Act (1955). There are similar episodes in London, New York, and LA.
1952-4000 people die in one of the London “killer fogs.”
1954-A Japanese fisherman is killed in Bikini during nuclear tests that prove to be twice as powerful as expected. Radioactivity spread through the Pacific Ocean and up the foodchain. It was realized that testing at one place would affect places far away. 10,000 fishermen were exposed to radiation.
1955-The government decided not to build a dam in Dinosaur National Monument after a lot of public outcry. The Wilderness Bill was then passed.
1955-The first international air pollution conference is held as a result of the smog episodes.
1955-Air Pollution Control Act passed
1956-Water Pollution Control Act passed

Re: Kirby

I know this is kind of late but a good search keyword for early environmentalism would be early environmentalism and you'll see that it's a lot more different than what environmentalism has changed too now.

Early 1900's

I am having a hard time finding specific articles or subjects about environmentalism in the the early 1900's. If anyone has figured out a good key word for searching let me know!
~Kirby

History of Environmentalism

Summary of:
http://www.mtmultipleuse.org/endangered/esahistory.htm

In 1854-->Henry David Thoreau published Walden, a book about living simple in a natural setting, and Ralph Waldo Emerson began writing about nature.
1868--> John Muir moved to the Yosemite Valley in California. He hiked through the mountains and realized how valuable nature was and that it needed to be protected.
1890-->Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson create Yosemite National Park after lobbying Congress. They also created Sierra Club.
Gifford Pinchot and Muir created subgroups of the environmental movement. Pinchot said resources could be used but not abused, and Muir said that there should be preserves that no humans can touch.
1962-->Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book that described the dangers of pesticides. President Kennedy then made a committee to study pesticides like DDT, ultimately resulting in the ban of DDT in 1972.
The Popular Environmental Movement-->a variety of health concerns arose after 80 people died of air pollution on Thanksgiving in 1966, and 3 years later there was a huge oil spill near Santa Barbara. All of these things compunded in the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.
Then, there was a "back to the land" movement, where people moved away from civilization and big cities. "There were three main reasons that most people went back to the land. The first was a feeling of disenchantment with modern society. They had had enough of the rules and policies of the "establishment." Also, they wanted to be "in harmony with the earth" and to have a spiritual relationship with it.
Then, the Deep Ecology Movement formed, which didn't want just shallow changes, but major ones:
"All life has its own intrinsic value.
Diversity of life has intrinsic value.
Human interference is excessive.
Humans have no right to reduce diversity.
Human life can survive with substantial decrease in population, which is necessary for non-human life.
This requires change in policies and a much different state of affairs.
The ideological change involves appreciating life quality.
Those who subscribe to the foregoing points have an obligation to implement necessary change. (Arne Naess)"

Environmentalsim Blog 1

1. Environmentalists have struggled to promote awareness of environmental issues since the mid-nineteenth century. Groups have been and continue to be established in order to inform the public of issues concerning the environment. Endangered species, wildlife reserves, forest protection, pollution, ecosystems and “clean” energy resources are all recognized by various environmental societies.
2. In the early 1900’s environmentalism was still getting its foot in the door. Steps such as the previously mentioned environmentalist groups being established had just begun. Also, legislative acts were being passed, such as the Forest Reserve Act of 1891. The government became involved with environmental issues which helped pave the way for further advances.
3. Today environmentalism presents itself in numerous issues. One of the more well known being pollution. Scientists and environmentalists believe pollution to be harmful to human (ie those with asthma) but also to the environment as it contributes to global warming. Endangered species and rainforest conservation are also well known. Now, unlike the early 1900’s, more attention is paid to environmental issues and more steps are being taken to protect the environment.
4. Global warming is an area of environmentalism that will be researched further. Global warming is closely linked to fuel sources and pollution. Pollution adds to the greenhouse effect which is an increase of the earth’s temperature due to gases, such as those from car exhaust being put into the air. Therefore, researchers continue to search for alternative fuel sources. Many countries have promised “to reduce the emission of gasses” that add to global warming, through the Kyoto Project.
5. I am very interested in learning about global warming and the greenhouse effect. I don’t fully understand either and would also like to know how long it will be until global warming reaches its height and what consequences there will be for earth. I am also curious about drilling Alaska for oil. I have been a supporter of the idea, but I may not know all of the dangers for the environment, maybe my opinion will change.

Environmentalism Introductory Post

1. Environmentalism is defined as, "a concern for the preservation, restoration, or improvement ofthe natural environment, such as the conservation of natural resources, prevention of pollution, and certain land use actions." Although its origins date back to 1200 B.C.E., when soil conservation became popular in the East and clean water systems became widely-used in the Mid-East, environmentalism has become much more prevalent in today's society, with a variety of different organizations and laws made throughout the years to promote its importance. Some of the major issues that it addresses include: global warming, the effects of different power sources (nuclear energy, for example), deforestation, the use of harmful pesticides, pollution, and many other important things. It has inspired people around the world to unite under the common goal of protecting the world in which they live, and, therefore, it has become a hot topic in the global community.
2. In the early 1900's, environmentalism had been in existence, in one way or another, for over three thousand years. However, the movement really started to grow in terms of popularity and acceptance in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with the Enlightenment and the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. Therefore, by the first half of the 20th century, it was a well-founded movement with many supporters, and thus made much progress in affecting change. In 1916, for example, the National Park Service was founded, followed 19 years later by The Wilderness Society. In addition, there was a variety of demonstrations and rallies against different projects that threatened the environment, including one in 1955 that lead the government to abandon its plans to build a dam in Dinosaur National Monument.
3. Today, environmentalism continues to grow in popularity, especially with the increasing concerns about global warming and air and water pollution. In 2005, the Kyoto Protocol was created, and all countries that signed it have pledged to reduce emission of gases that cause global warming. However, interestingly enough, the United States failed to sign this amendment to the U.N. Convention on Climate Change. In fact, the United States has the largest greenhouse gas emission of any country that failed to ratify the Protocol.
4. A few things that have been isolated for further research are global warming and its effects, the history (and future) of environmentalism, the effects of different energy sources on the environment & how environmentalism in affecting the use of new energies, the Audobon and Wilderness Societies, nuclear disasters and pollution, and famous enviromentalists (like Julia Butterfly Hill).
5. Although there are numerous intriguing and interesting aspects of environmentalism, a few notable ones stand out. For example, it seems very odd that the U.S. chose not to raitfy the Kyoto Protocol, and that while this country does so much to help other organizations, it does not do enough to help the world in which all of its citizens live. Also, it is quite interesting that, while taking care of the environment should be of the utmost concern, as without a healthy world, the human race has no future, many people disregard environmentalism, and continue to litter and drive SUVs. In addition, the possible effects that global warming could have in the future are very compelling. Lastly, it would be intriguing to see how environmentalism has changed the world since it first gained popularity in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Itroduction Blog

1. Environmetalism seems to be a fairly recent concept, brought about by recent changes in human behavior such as the advent of cars, widespread tecnological advances, and the switch to oil as a main source of power after world war one. Most issues about environmentalism include the debate currentley over global warming and how we have affected our envirnment. Many groups, such as green peace and many individuals, emerging during the 1900's, have brought attention to all of these issues.
2. In the early 1900's, not much attention was given to Environmentalism, but this was the time when some notice was beggining to be given to it. As of 1905, the National Audubon Society was establised to preserve areas in the United States.
3. As for today, Environmental isuues have become highly noticed among many people in the United states due to the apparent affects of global warming. Many books, including "An inconvienent Truth" by Presidential nominee Al Gore, have produced large acknowledgement of our current impact on the environment and large awareness about what we have done over the past century.
4. I would like to explore how and when the first people began to notice the effects we have had on the environment along with the decisions that have led to the extreme development of oil and fossil fuel use in the world. I would also like to explore the begginings of alternative fuel use such as wind, geothermal, and solar power in the world.
5. I am most interested in in learning about how different people view their impact on the environment and the different ways people view their individual actions in regards to environmentalism.

First Blog...

• At the moment many people are worried about environmentalism even if they don't know it. Many people are scared about Global Warming and chemicals that affect nature (DDT).
  
• In the 18th Century is really when environmentalism started: the government started getting worried about the amount of lumber being used and the forests that were being deforested to build ships. In 1962, when the thought of having huge industrialized cities blowing smoke into the world and chemical plants that would poison everyone and deforestation of the world, Rachel Carson wrote the book Silent Spring. It talked about how everything was dying off as all the animals such as fish and pigs could not be found or born. Then people started getting worried about the environment, which is when the big environmentalist organizations like Green Peace and Friends of the Earth began.
  
• Now there are major movements promoting environmentalism by Green Peace, along with the Green parties in the government who campaign for saving the environment. Then there's April 22nd, which is the annual Earth Day, where children are taught about what's happening to Earth. Last week, I read an article in the "Times"saying that Kyoto had decided to stop using cars or electricity for on day a week, and the only transportation citizens could use were the local bus.
• I would intend to learn about the Green parties political agendas and how they intend to support environmentalism if they were elected and how Global Warming has changed and what chemicals were banned with the help of environmentalist movements.
  
• Mostly I am interested in how Global Warming has changed and what governments around the world are doing to help save the world (similar to Kyoto).
  

Environmental impact statement

I found an interesting article on Wikipedia about the United States policy on actions it takes that affect the natural environment.

Here is a secion of it. I'm not entirely sure how to tab these yet, so itll be this for now. The website is- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_statement

"According to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) whenever the US Federal Government takes a "major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment" it must first consider the environmental impact in a document called an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

An EIS typically has four sections:

• An Introduction including a statement of the Purpose and Need of the Proposed Action.
• A description of the Affected Environment.
• A Range of Alternatives to the proposed action. Alternatives are considered the "heart" of the EIS.
• An analysis of the environmental impacts of each of the possible alternatives.

The purpose of NEPA is to promote excellence in decision making by federal agencies by making "detailed information concerning significant environmental impacts" available to both agency leaders and the public. ^[1]

Not all federal actions require a full EIS. If the action is not likely to cause a significant impact the agency may prepare a smaller, shorter document called an Environmental Assessment (EA). However, EAs are only appropriate if there will be "no significant impact."

Contrary to a widespread misconception, NEPA does not prohibit the federal government or its licensees/permittees from harming the environment, but merely requires that the prospective impacts be understood and disclosed in advance."

Light Green Environmentalists

So I found it kind of interesting that the Light Greens (a group of environmentalists) believe to push the ideals made in the French Revolution like Conservatism, Socialism, and Liberalism.

I found some stuff on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmentalism
I tried to highlight the important parts, but I don't think they were showing up on the tags though.

I am trying to find more info on it, but all I can find is a book about French environmentalism.

~Trina

World History Environmentalism

THis is a first post for the World History Environmentalism blog.